Method and system for implementing graphical analysis of hierarchical coverage information using treemaps

Abstract

An improved method, system, user interface, and computer program product is disclosed for performing graphical analysis of coverage. According to some approaches, a graphical user interface uses treemaps to provide analysis of verification coverage. This allows the user to efficiently obtain the overall and/or complete picture of the coverage space, as well as the relative size of nodes in terms of number of coverage elements contained in them. Moreover, the present treemap approach provides relative comparison of coverage of the nodes and allows the user to identify whether there is any missing coverage, and if so, whether the missing coverage evenly balanced. This information is very useful for the decision made by the user regarding overall coverage and steps to be taken to improve the coverage.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A computer program product that includes a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, the non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising a plurality of computer instructions which, when executed by at least one processor, cause the processor to execute a method for displaying coverage information for verification, the method comprising:
 using at least one process that is at least to perform a process, the process comprising: 
 generating a treemap to display coverage information for a verification activity for a hierarchical electronic circuit design having a plurality of nodes, wherein generating the treemap to display the coverage information comprises:
 generating the treemap based at least in part upon whether the tree map includes a complete hierarchy or a single hierarchical level by using at least a priority that is determined between preservation of an order of the plurality of nodes and improvement of an aspect for at least a part of the treemap, in which the treemap comprises a display portion having a size, the size of the display portion indicates a respective physical size of a corresponding portion of the hierarchical electronic circuit design, and the display portion corresponds to a node on a tree structure having nodes and links of the hierarchical electronic circuit design; and 
 
 verifying or designing the hierarchical electronic circuit design based at least in part upon the treemap. 
 
     
     
       2. The computer program product of  claim 1 , in which
 the treemap provides a representation of data from a hierarchical tree structure, and 
 a node in the hierarchical tree structure is represented as a rectangular portion of the treemap. 
 
     
     
       3. The computer program product of  claim 1 , in which
 the treemap comprises rectangular portions having a size that corresponds to a relative size of a parameter. 
 
     
     
       4. The computer program product of  claim 3 , in which
 the parameter comprise a number of coverage points for the verification activity, and 
 a larger rectangle corresponds to a greater number of coverage points. 
 
     
     
       5. The computer program product of  claim 1  in which the treemap comprises a color or shading for a region that is representative of a percentage of coverage indicating a ratio between a number of nodes covered in the region and a total number of nodes in one or more hierarchical levels of the hierarchical electronic circuit design. 
     
     
       6. The computer program product of  claim 1 , in which the treemap comprises a combination of or a single type of a squarified treemap, slice and dice treemap, or a cushion treemap. 
     
     
       7. The computer program product of  claim 1 , in which the treemap shows a complete hierarchy or a single hierarchical level. 
     
     
       8. The computer program product of  claim 7 , in which related nodes are adjacent in the treemap. 
     
     
       9. The computer program product of  claim 1 , the action of generating the treemap comprising:
 determining whether the treemap includes a complete hierarchy or only a single hierarchical level of the hierarchical electronic circuit design; 
 determining a priority between an action of preserving an order of a plurality of nodes in the hierarchical electronic circuit design and an action of improving width-to-length ratio for the treemap; and 
 generating the treemap based at least in part upon the priority. 
 
     
     
       10. The computer program product of  claim 9 , in which a hierarchy is traversed by selecting a node for which the treemap is to be displayed, and the process further comprises:
 determining a processing order in which a plurality of regions in the treemap is processed; and 
 optimizing the treemap based at least in part upon an aspect ratio of each of the plurality of regions in the treemap. 
 
     
     
       11. The computer program product of  claim 9 , in which
 a first treemap shows self-coverage information and second treemap shows cumulative coverage information. 
 
     
     
       12. The computer program product of  claim 1 , in which different rectangular portions of the treemap correspond to different coverage types or different sub-nodes. 
     
     
       13. The computer program product of  claim 10 , in which the processing order comprises an order of decreasing size of the plurality of regions in the treemap. 
     
     
       14. The computer program product of  claim 1 , in which the action of generating the tree map comprises:
 adding a first region to the treemap by dividing a total area of the treemap into the first region and a remaining region based at least in part upon a criterion; 
 adding the second region to the treemap by dividing the remaining area of the treemap into the second region and a remainder based at least in part upon the criterion; 
 determining whether the second region improves an attribute of the treemap, in which the attribute comprises a maximum aspect ratio of one or more regions in the treemap; and 
 finalizing the second region in the treemap based at least in part upon a result of determining whether the second region improves the attribute of the treemap. 
 
     
     
       15. The computer program product of  claim 11 , in which
 the self-coverage information corresponds to a first ratio between a number of covered items in an instance or a module of the hierarchical electronic circuit design and a total number of items in the instance or the module, and 
 the cumulative coverage information corresponds to a second ratio between the total number of items in the instance or the module and a sum of the number of covered items in the instance of the module and a first number of covered items in all child instances or child modules of the instance or the module. 
 
     
     
       16. A computer implemented method for displaying coverage information for verification, comprising:
 using at least one process that is to perform a process, the process comprising: 
 generating a treemap to display coverage information for a verification activity for a hierarchical electronic circuit design having a plurality of nodes, wherein generating the treemap to display the coverage information comprises: 
 generating the treemap based at least in part upon whether the tree map includes a complete hierarchy or a single hierarchical level by using at least a priority that is determined between preservation of an order of the plurality of nodes and improvement of an aspect for at least a part of the treemap, in which the treemap comprises a display portion having a size, the size of the display portion indicates a respective physical size of a corresponding portion of the hierarchical electronic circuit design, and the display portion corresponds to a node on a tree structure having nodes and links of the hierarchical electronic circuit design; and 
 verifying or designing the hierarchical electronic circuit design based at least in part upon the treemap. 
 
     
     
       17. The computer implemented method of  claim 16 , in which
 the treemap provides a representation of data from a hierarchical tree structure, and 
 a node in the hierarchical tree structure is represented as a rectangular portion of the treemap. 
 
     
     
       18. The computer implemented method of  claim 16 , in which
 the treemap comprises rectangular portions having a size that corresponds to a relative size of a parameter, and 
 the parameter comprise a number of coverage points for the verification activity, wherein a larger rectangle corresponds to a greater number of coverage points. 
 
     
     
       19. The computer implemented method of  claim 18 , in which
 the parameter comprise a number of coverage points for the verification activity, and 
 a larger rectangle corresponds to a greater number of coverage points. 
 
     
     
       20. The computer implemented method of  claim 16 , in which the treemap comprises a color or shading for a region that is representative of a percentage of coverage indicating a ratio between a number of nodes covered in the region and a total number of nodes in one or more hierarchical levels of the hierarchical electronic circuit design. 
     
     
       21. The computer implemented method of  claim 16 , in which the treemap comprises a combination of or a single type of a squarified treemap, slice and dice treemap, or a cushion treemap. 
     
     
       22. The computer implemented method of  claim 16 , in which the treemap shows a complete hierarchy or a single hierarchical level. 
     
     
       23. The computer implemented method of  claim 22 , in which related nodes are adjacent in the treemap. 
     
     
       24. The computer implemented method of  claim 16 , the action of generating the treemap comprising:
 determining whether the treemap includes a complete hierarchy or only a single hierarchical level of the hierarchical electronic circuit design; 
 determining a priority between an action of preserving an order of a plurality of nodes in the hierarchical electronic circuit design and an action of improving width-to-length ratio for the treemap; and 
 generating the treemap based at least in part upon the priority. 
 
     
     
       25. The computer implemented method of  claim 24 , in which a hierarchy is traversed by selecting a node for which the treemap is to be displayed, and the process further comprises:
 determining a processing order in which a plurality of regions in the treemap is processed; and 
 optimizing the treemap based at least in part upon an aspect ratio of each of the plurality of regions in the treemap. 
 
     
     
       26. The computer implemented method of  claim 24 , in which
 a first treemap shows self-coverage information and second treemap shows cumulative coverage information. 
 
     
     
       27. The computer implemented method of  claim 16  in which different rectangular portions of the treemap correspond to different coverage types or different sub-nodes. 
     
     
       28. The computer implemented method of  claim 25 , in which the processing order comprises an order of decreasing size of the plurality of regions in the treemap. 
     
     
       29. The computer implemented method of  claim 16 , in which the action of generating the treemap further comprises:
 adding a first region to the treemap by dividing a total area of the treemap into the first region and a remaining region based at least in part upon a criterion; 
 adding the second region to the treemap by dividing the remaining area of the treemap into the second region and a remainder based at least in part upon the criterion; 
 determining whether the second region improves an attribute of the treemap, in which the attribute comprises a maximum aspect ratio of one or more regions in the treemap; and 
 finalizing the second region in the treemap based at least in part upon a result of determining whether the second region improves the attribute of the treemap. 
 
     
     
       30. The computer implemented method of  claim 26 , in which
 the self-coverage information corresponds to a first ratio between a number of covered items in an instance or a module of the hierarchical electronic circuit design and a total number of items in the instance or the module, and 
 the cumulative coverage information corresponds to a second ratio between the total number of items in the instance or the module and a sum of the number of covered items in the instance of the module and a first number of covered items in all child instances or child modules of the instance or the module. 
 
     
     
       31. A system for displaying coverage information for verification, comprising:
 at least one processor that is at least to: 
 generate a treemap to display coverage information for a verification activity for a hierarchical electronic circuit design having a plurality of nodes, wherein the at least one processor that is to generate the treemap to display the coverage information is further to:
 generate the treemap based at least in part upon whether the tree map includes a complete hierarchy or a single hierarchical level by using at least a priority that is determined between preservation of an order of the plurality of nodes and improvement of an aspect for at least a part of the treemap, in which the treemap comprises a display portion having a size, the size of the display portion indicates a respective physical size of a corresponding portion of the hierarchical electronic circuit design, and the display portion corresponds to a node on a tree structure having nodes and links of the hierarchical electronic circuit design; and 
 
 verify or design the hierarchical electronic circuit design based at least in part upon the tree map. 
 
     
     
       32. The system of  claim 31 , in which
 the treemap provides a representation of data from a hierarchical tree structure, and 
 a node in the hierarchical tree structure is represented as a rectangular portion of the treemap. 
 
     
     
       33. The system of  claim 31 , in which
 the treemap comprises rectangular portions having a size that corresponds to a relative size of a parameter, and 
 the parameter comprise a number of coverage points for the verification activity, wherein a larger rectangle corresponds to a greater number of coverage points. 
 
     
     
       34. The system of  claim 33 , in which
 the parameter comprise a number of coverage points for the verification activity, and 
 a larger rectangle corresponds to a greater number of coverage points. 
 
     
     
       35. The system of  claim 31 , in which the treemap comprises a color or shading for a region that is representative of a percentage of coverage indicating a ratio between a number of nodes covered in the region and a total number of nodes in one or more hierarchical levels of the hierarchical electronic circuit design. 
     
     
       36. The system of  claim 31 , in which the treemap comprises a combination of or a single type of a squarified treemap, slice and dice treemap, or a cushion treemap. 
     
     
       37. The system of  claim 31 , in which the treemap shows a complete hierarchy or a single hierarchical level. 
     
     
       38. The system of  claim 37 , in which related nodes are adjacent in the treemap. 
     
     
       39. The system of  claim 31 , the at least one processor to generate the treemap is further to:
 determine whether the treemap includes a complete hierarchy or only a single hierarchical level of the hierarchical electronic circuit design; 
 determine a priority between an action of preserving an order of a plurality of nodes in the hierarchical electronic circuit design and an action of improving width-to-length ratio for the treemap; and 
 generate the treemap based at least in part upon the priority. 
 
     
     
       40. The system of  claim 39 , in which a hierarchy is traversed by selecting a node for which the treemap is to be displayed, and the at least one processor is further to:
 determine a processing order in which a plurality of regions in the treemap is processed; and 
 improve the treemap based at least in part upon an aspect ratio of each of the plurality of regions in the treemap. 
 
     
     
       41. The system of  claim 39 , in which
 a first treemap shows self-coverage information and second treemap shows cumulative coverage information. 
 
     
     
       42. The system of  claim 31 , in which different rectangular portions of the treemap correspond to different coverage types or different sub-nodes. 
     
     
       43. The system of  claim 31 , in which the processing order comprises an order of decreasing size of the plurality of regions in the treemap. 
     
     
       44. The system of  claim 31 , in which the at least one processor to generate the treemap is further to:
 add a first region to the treemap by dividing a total area of the treemap into the first region and a remaining region based at least in part upon a criterion; 
 add the second region to the treemap by dividing the remaining area of the treemap into the second region and a remainder based at least in part upon the criterion; 
 determine whether the second region improves an attribute of the treemap, in which the attribute comprises a maximum aspect ratio of one or more regions in the treemap; and 
 finalize the second region in the treemap based at least in part upon a result of determining whether the second region improves the attribute of the treemap. 
 
     
     
       45. The system of  claim 41 , in which
 the self-coverage information corresponds to a first ratio between a number of covered items in an instance or a module of the hierarchical electronic circuit design and a total number of items in the instance or the module, and 
 the cumulative coverage information corresponds to a second ratio between the total number of items in the instance or the module and a sum of the number of covered items in the instance of the module and a first number of covered items in all child instances or child modules of the instance or the module.